Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

Introduction - Judges

The Book of Judges takes its name from the accounts of the persons whom the Lord raised up to deliver Israel from oppression and re-establish their worship of the Lord between the death of Joshua and rise of the kingship. Accounts of only thirteen judges are found here, the last two judges, Eli and Samuel, being in the book of First Samuel. There may have been other judges who did not get into the record, and of those found only six are more than casually mentioned. These are Ehud, Deborah, Barak, Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson.

The author of Judges, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is unknown, but many feel that it was the Prophet Samuel. It relates a period of repeated apostasy and repentance. The fickle Israelites appear to have been easily led into pagan idolatry by those they had neglected to exterminate from the land when it was conquered under Joshua. God would allow them to suffer subjection to the pagan nations until they cried out to Him in repentance. Then He would raise up the judge or deliverer, literally savior, for them.

The Book of Judges covers a much longer period of time than does that of Joshua. It might seem an easy matter to ascertain the time period from a notice of the length of each judgeship together with the time between the various judges. But some of the judges were contemporary, and there were periods of indefinite length also. In Acts 13:20 the Apostle Paul, preaching at Antioch -pisidia, refers to 450 years for the judges. This was to the time of Samuel, whose judgeship was a considerable period of time after those recorded in the Book of Judges. Also, Samuel’s judgeship coincided with much of the reign of Saul, whose reign was forty years, during which Samuel exercised continued authority over Israel. Chronologists settle on dates for the entire judgeship from about 1375 to 1075, so that to accumulate the 450 years of Paul’s sermon we should probably include the time of Joshua to the beginning of David’s reign, when God at last was ready for a king over Israel.

Judges - Chapter 1

Adoni-bezek Subdued, vs. 1-7

The implication of the opening words of the Book of Judges is that the things about to be recorded occurred very shortly after Joshua’s death. Since Israel continued to serve the Lord through the lifetime of the elders who were contemporary with Joshua (Joshua 24:31), it should not be thought that apostasy had led to renewed war with the Canaanites. More likely the increase of the people necessitated more land for them, and this was the method the Lard had chosen to give them the land as they needed it (Exodus 23:29-30; De 7:22).

When inquired of by the Israelites the Lord told them the tribe of Judah should lead in the campaign, and He promised the victory. In the end it appears that the initial campaign took place only in the southern tribes. It should be remembered that Simeon had received his tribal allotment within that formerly allotted to Judah (Joshua 19:1; Joshua 19:9). Therefore these two tribes co-operated in driving out the Canaanites and Perizzites who still dwelt among them.

When they came to Bezek, which is thought to have been west of Jerusalem on the mountain slope down to the Mediterranean Sea, they encountered a leading king of the area. He is called Adoni-bezek, which means "lord of Bezek." He had made himself lord of all the Canaanite people around him, having subdued seventy other kings whom, to humiliate, he mutilated by cutting off their thumbs and big toes. This rendered them rather helpless, and to further humiliate them Adoni­bezek made them rake their food off the floor under his table. When the Israelites captured him they requited him by cutting off his thumbs and big toes. The wicked king admitted that it was the retribution of God which had befallen him. He was brought to Jerusalem where he died, possibly from his wounds, or his own shame.

Othniel’s Exploit, vs. 8-15

After showing how Judah and Simeon rounded out their possession of the land after Joshua’s death, the writer goes back before the death of Joshua, to the time when the land was first allotted to show how these tribes had previously subdued the Jebusites of Jerusalem and the Anakim (giants) of the area around Hebron. Jerusalem lay near the tribal boundary between Judah and Benjamin, the city actually being allotted to Benjamin. But it was Judah which took the great city and burned it with fire. They turned to conquer the Canaanites in the valleys and the mountains of the south.

When they approached Hebron, which Joshua had given to Caleb, they were opposed by the giants. The three giant leaders were slain, and the war moved on against Debir, or Kirjath-sepher, as it was called by the Anakim (giants). Here Caleb issued a challenge, to give his young daughter, Achsah, to any man who would assail the city and capture it, to be his wife. The prize was claimed by Othniel, son of Kenaz, probably Caleb’s brother. The passage in verses 12-15 is almost identical to Joshua 15:16-19. See comments there.

Campaigns of Judah and Benjamin, vs. 16-21

Verse 16 reveals a matter of interest and possibly answers a question left open by Numbers 10:29-32. There Moses invited his brother-in-law, Hobab, to accompany Israel on their journey to Canaan. Hobab declined, but Moses insisted, and the final outcome of his insistence is not related. Here, though, it is seen that some of Moses’ wife’s relatives did come up with the Israelites. They found a dwelling place in the tribe of Judah, in the wilderness area south of Arad, west of the Dead Sea, actually in the part of Judah later given to the Simeonites.

The campaign of Judah and Simeon turned to the far south, where the city of Zephath, better known as Hormah, was divested of Canaanites and destroyed. This is the place where the rebellious Israelites presumptuously attacked after the Lord told them to turn back into the wilderness. They belatedly decided to go into the Promised Land, so they went out without God and were beaten (Numbers 14:40-45). About forty years later when they were again about to enter the land God gave Israel a victory here (Numbers 21:1-3). It is also interesting to note that Judah at this time took three of the leading cities which the Philistines later occupied, Gaza, Askelon, and Ekron. Their failure to hold these cities and leaving them to the Philistine occupation later caused Israel untold hardship and trouble.

Verse 19 says "the Lord was with Judah," and he was able to drive out the inhabitants of the mountains. However, it is said they could not drive out the inhabitants of the valleys because they had iron chariots. God is all-powerful, and His power certainly extends over iron chariots of Canaan, as will be exemplified when the Israelites manifest proper faith in Him (see Judges 4:15 and context). What happened here with Judah is anticipatory of what occurred in all the tribes; the people lacked the faith to claim God’s promised victory. As an example of the positive side there is mentioned the success of Caleb again over the mighty giants of Hebron. The Benjamites likewise failed to subjugate Jerusalem, after it was conquered for them by Judah, but settled down to live among the Jebusites.

Be" Subjugated, vs. 22-26

Israel had won a victory over Bethel in the days of Joshua, at the same time that Ai was conquered (Joshua 8:17; Joshua 12:16). It appears that the land was now needed for occupancy of the Ephraimites, so they launched another campaign to occupy it. Spies were sent to spy it out. They took a page from the spies who dealt with Rahab at Jericho (Joshua 2:14 and context), and offered to save a man’s life in the capture of the city if he would show them how the city could be entered. There is some question whether they should have done this, since the Lord had promised them victory without making deals, and had told them to exterminate all the people. Nevertheless, the Lord gave them victory, and the man’s life was spared.

The city was never called anything but Luz by the Canaanites. The Bible refers to it as Bethel from the time of Abraham. It is doubtful that Abraham ever knew it by the name of Bethel, for the place received its name much later as a result of Jacob’s vision of the ladder at the place as he fled from Esau (Genesis 28:19). Moses recorded these things centuries later, and applied the name by which it was then known to the Israelites, from the beginning of the Genesis record of Abraham in Canaan.

Tribal Failures, vs. 27-36

The record of Judges 1:27-36 is a record of shame and failure on the part of the Lord’s people. From the very beginning of their entrance into Canaan the Lord had promised Israel to be with them and to drive their enemies out of the land. When they began this very campaign, following the death of Joshua, He had said, "I have delivered the land into his hand," (verse 2).

The only reason all these cities were not delivered into the hands of Israel was their own failure and lack of faith in the Lord’s promises. Down the roll of the tribes - Judah, Manasseh, Ephraim, Zebulun, Asher, Naphtali, Dan - it is said, "Neither did" whatever tribe drive out the inhabitants"of whatever city.

Manasseh failed in five cities, Ephraim in Gezer, Zebulun in two, Asher in seven, Naphtali in two, and the Danites were forced into the mountains. In most cases it is stated that the Canaanite inhabitants were put to tribute by the Israelites. This indicates that the Israelites did not wish to drive out the pagans, for they liked the material increase they received by heavily taxing the pagan people. Very soon, however, it will be found that the Lord allowed the reverse situation to arise because of Israel’s disobedience, so that the pagans were taking tribute of Israel.

The "going up to Akrabbim" was far to the south, in the wilderness southwest of the foot of the Dead Sea. The implication here seems to be that the Amorites infested the land, among the Israelites, from a point on their southern frontier into the land of Israel.

Lessons to be learned from this chapter include 1) The Lord assures His people of His promised blessings when they act in accord with His known will; 2) we ought to heed the examples of those who have succeeded through their adherence to the commands of the Lord; 3) God’s people put Him to shame by neglecting His known will in order to get the material things of the world.